Elvis has NOT left the building! KING EIDER offshore from Oslo

This morning’s Maridalen outing was sans The Beast and avec Le Telescope. This did not result in any new birds though. In fact it was again disappointingly quiet in the Dale and it was pretty much same same as yesterday with Ring Ouzels and a Curlew the best birds although a male Wigeon on the lake was new for the year.

A lunchtime return to the Dale with The Beast and Mrs.OB resulted in a Kestrel (new for the year) and the sight of a pair of Canada Geese displaying and then mating which was (surprisingly) very interesting to watch and was going to be the subject of this blog post. That will have to wait though as the Bird Gods shone and the day ended up very well.

Just as we drew up in the drive way from home a message from Anders read that there was a second hand report that Elivs, aka The King, aka King Eider was just offshore at Fornebu. The excess baggage was quickly ejected from the car and I made haste to Fornebu. Pretty much exactly 10 minutes later I was walking down to the shoreline with scope and camera on each shoulder. A fisherman beckoned me over and pointed to a close rock where low and behold Elvis was in residence. It turned out that the fisherman was no birder, had no bins, but had a childhoold friend (Terje Kolaas) who he had been birding with years ago and who had instilled enough knowledge in him that he had recognised the bird as a King Eider. He then rang Terje who put the news out and just minutes later there I was! Ole (for that was his name) had told his fishing buddy that birders would quickly turn up but I think I beat his expectations! By the time I left 30 minutes later 8 other birders had turned up but I had expected even more given it was such a good bird.

Anyway, back to the bird. IT WAS FANTASTIC!! An adult male, summer plumaged King Eider at very close range. Initially sleeping on a rock it then decided to swim towards us with a couple of Common Eiders before eventually drifting further out on its own where it started diving for food.

Here it was resting on an offshore rock islet

male King Eider (praktærfugl) - birds don't get much better than this although older males of this species do get an ever bigger and more colourful bill knob

with Bygdøy, Dynafyr and Oslo in the background

quite cool marking on the chin and bill knob

Still quiet

Leaving the house at 07:30 with the Beast in tow I got excited by wet pavings stones (meaning some rain during the night) and low cloud. This excitement failed to convert into birds in the Dale though. Yet again it was disappointingly quiet (although that is normally the case in early April) but new birds do keep coming. I yet again thought conditions were good for raptors but by the time I left at 1030 I had only seen local Goshawk and Common Buzzard. There were more Chiffchaffs than yesterday but there were a lot fewer thrushes with no flocks moving through. Five Ring Ouzels which Anders found just before I drove home were the first of the year though. Four calling Curlews which flew around repeatedly looking for somewhere to land were also a very welcome sight and more importantly sound and this alone made the morning a success.

I also observed my first Lizard and bumblebee sp. today.

4 Curlew (storspove). They wanted to land but I never saw if they found somewhere suitable. It was magical though to hear them calling

an addition to my series of birds with Oslo landmarks in the background - here the ski jump at Linderudkollen

Two of five Ring Ouzels (ringtrost)

Meadow Pipits (heipiplerke) have not arrived in any numbers yet and Tree Pipits will not arrive for two or three weeks although that doesn't stop people reporting them or Yellow Wagtails which are also 3 weeks away

it is always cool being out early in the morning and today there was a mist which made it especially atmospheric

Spring migration steps up a gear

The small amount of rain that fell yesterday, southerly winds and a night without frost were clearly what was needed to get migration going. This morning in Maridalen felt good with many hundred Redwing moving quickly from east to west in small flocks. There was also lot of song from them as they paused in the trees. There were some Mistle Thrushes, Song Thrushes and Fieldfares with them but no large flocks feeding on the fields unfortunately. The first field has been ploughed in Maridalen but this hadn’t attracted anything yet. I had a couple of White Wagtails and Meadow Pipits flying over but we will have to have a few more warm days and hopefully some more rain before we get large numbers of these and other insect eating species.

All the geese from yesterday had left the lake and continued their northerly migration but the first large concentration of gulls was on the lake and their calls definitely give a spring feeling.

With it being sunny and the wind from the south I really hoped for some raptor migration but had only singles of Peregrine, Common Buzzard and Sparrowhawk in the morning and nothing at all in the afternoon when the girls got walked. We should have been staying in a nice hotel in Trysil this week and going downhill skiing but everything is now closed due to Corona so walks close to home with something nice to eat will be the new easter entertainment.

I did have two new species for the year in the form of Chiffchaff and Common Snipe.

scarcest bird of the day was this adult Peregrine (vandrefalk) that was hunting Redwings

I don't think I have seen a perched Peregrine in Maridalen before. The species does not breed in the area yet but with a growing population it is not inconceivable that will establish themselves in the future

this large female Sparrowhawk (spurvehauk) caused me some ID problems and I had initally thought it was a male Goshawk

Long.-tailed Tits (stjertmeis) seem to be common probably as a result of good winter survivial 

spiders are clearly active now

the first Chiffchaff (gransanger) of the year deserves a photo and all the main ID features are clearly visible... #recordshotmyarse

a Canada Goose... when I take pictures of black listed species then it is a sign there was little else to point the camera at

Finally

Since my last post on Wednesday I had two days with very uneventful dog walks in Maridalen, a slightly disappointing boat trip with Halvard and finally a good day in the Dale.

The only bird of note on Thursday and Friday was a Peregrine.

Yesterday morning I was lucky enough to join Halvard on his boat for a trip around the inner Oslo Fjord. I had very high hopes and was especially looking forward to seeing the King Eider which had been seen again earlier in the week. Unfortunately though Elvis didn’t show (although was seen today..) and there was generally VERY little to see with hardly any sign of migration which was exactly as it had been in Maridalen on Thursday and Friday. Nighttime frosts and mostly northerly winds are probably the blocking factor at the moment.

The only newly arrived migrants we saw from the boat were a single Lapwing and a couple of Curlews resting on rocky islets although Greylag Geese, Oystercatchers and many gulls were already back on their nesting islands.

The day was saved though with a close encounter with a young White-tailed Eagle. Pink-footed Geese also moved through in even larger numbers than on Tuesday but the flocks went through so high that we couldn’t even hear them.

Today was good though. It started with a rare guiding of a Norwegian with someone deciding that in these Corona times it was important to support their (not so) local bird guide - thank you Egil☺️. The goal was to spend a couple of hours searching for Three-toed Woodpecker and Hazel Grouse. The peckers were no problem with pairs found at three sites which is more than I have ever found before. Hazel Grouse would not play ball though. Or at least not when guiding because in the afternoon whilst walking Mrs OB and The Beast we heard a bird singing at one of the sites Egil and I had tried...

Whilst walking in the forest we heard first Greylags and then flocks of Pink-footed Geese which were trying to migrate north but were hitting low cloud and then flying around in confusion. Eventually all the flocks seemed to head south towards the lake and when we passed on the way home there were loads of geese! Probably 500 Pink-feet with 25 (wild) Barnacle Geese amongst them, 60 odd (non local) Greylags and amongst them a dark-bellid Brent Goose. This is only the second record on the lake so a local twitch ensued later in the day. The first Black-throated Diver of the year was also on the lake along with the Red-throat which had been around for a week or so now.

White-tailed Eagle (havørn). This bird which is I believe a 4cy has been seen a few times around Oslo this week

unringed which at least means it is not from the closest breeding pair

being chased by Hooded Crows

these 3 Long-tailed Ducks (havelle) have been around the Oslo islands all winter but this is my first sighting of them

my first Curlews (storspove) of the year

a Lapwing (vipe) on a rocky offshore island was unexpected

in the absence of its royal cousin I took some pictures of a Common Eider (ærfugl) which is also pretty smart

only the second ever Brent Goose (ringgås) on Maridalsvannet. This of the Dark-bellied subspecies

a Brimstone (sitronsommerfugl) my first proper butterfly of 2020 

a new female Three-toed Woodpecker (with 3 toes)

and her mate who found good acoustics on this telegraph pole

Life in Woodpecker Wood

I thought today was going to be a good day for migration in Maridalen but I was completely wrong. Despite a weak southerly wind and cloud there was absolutely no sign of new arrivals.

It was therefore easy to make the decision to go into woodpecker wood and search for some missing toes. I quickly located first one and then a pair of Three-toed Woodpeckers. The female was One-Toe and the male was drumming so actively that I wonder if he is a different male to the last two years who always seemed very laid back. I was with the birds for quite a while and had both drumming close to each other and then the female feeding at head height just metres from me whilst the male continued drumming.

Just so you are warned: a tripod was not employed in the filming of any videos today 😎 although they are not too bad. The woodpecker video has both birds drumming plus a long sequence of the female feeding.

the male and female Three-toed Woodpeckers together 

male

the female is One-Toe back for her third year. Only the right claw on the right foot is normal and her right foot often slips. The left claw points up and is broken off and te middle claw is long, thin and straight rather than curing downwards

I have been hearing Dunnocks (jernspurv) for a week or so but today I finally saw one and saw it well as it sang close to me.